biodiversity conservation alliance

The board of the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance voted Thursday to call it quits. Board President Ken Driese said Monday the group has been having fundraising difficulties and that four staff members are losing their jobs.

Various ecological groups in the Rocky Mountain region have joined together to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to list the boreal toad as endangered.

Once populating much of the coniferous forests of the Western United States, the boreal toad’s numbers have plummeted in the last two decades. Currently, the amphibian is only found in 1% of its original breeding area in the Southern Rockies.

A second group of conservation organizations is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for removing Wyoming wolves from the Endangered Species List. One lawsuit was already filed several weeks ago. The new suit has the same goal, which is to reinstate federal protections for wolves.

Wyoming has promised to maintain at least 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs. But Duane Short with the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance says that’s not enough.